Critical Pedagogy

An Exploration of Contemporary Themes and Issues

Tomas Boronski

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781351590181
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Éducation générale

This accessible text provides a clear overview of the contemporary themes and challenges within critical pedagogy, and suggests a path towards a more conscientious world for all through education. Boronski encourages us to imagine radical alternatives to current approaches, not merely for ideological reasons, but due to increasing necessity for environmental and sociological perspectives.

With case studies, discussion tasks and exemplars from global history woven throughout, each chapter considers a prominent societal and educational issue, tackling some difficult and unsettling areas. Embedded in this exploration is an understanding and application of key concepts, such as justice, equality, rights and power, and how these relate to a range of topics in UK schooling. These include the role of teachers in an age of hyper surveillance and performance monitoring, alternative approaches to education, and the growing fear of the 'other'.

Essential reading for Education Studies students at undergraduate and Master's level, this comprehensive text will also be of interest to students of Social Policy, Sociology and Politics programmes.

1 Introduction

A pedagogy for change

(with Nasima Hassan)

Introduction

In an attempt to broaden the approach of critical pedagogy, this book aims to challenge hegemonic views of contemporary social, political and economic issues and to provide alternative ways of looking at them, in particular using the ideas of critical pedagogy to see the world from the perspective of the powerless including children and young people, the poor elderly and those in need of social care, those on low incomes, the homeless, marginalised minorities and those with impairments. Such groups, for one reason or another, tend to rely on others to speak for them and where there is no one to speak for them, they are silent and therefore do not ‘exist’. And if they do not exist, we need not concern ourselves with them. In those cases where someone does speak on their behalf, they are usually only partially heard or their position is not effectively presented because of vested interests or claims to ‘professional neutrality’ (see Barnes and Mercer, 1997; Boronski and Hassan, 2015). This book does not claim to speak for these groups, but it does suggest alternatives to the current official and hegemonic perspectives and offers more critical ways of thinking about the world and the assumptions we take for granted. Nor does it intend to engage in a detailed examination of the origins of critical pedagogy or a detailed explanation of the theoretical debates in the field. These are already covered in a number of works (see Darder et al., 2009). The purpose of this book is to encourage the development of a ‘language of possibility’ (Giroux, 2001).

A ‘language of possibility’

Critical pedagogy is an approach to education which emerged in the 1980s from a conviction that there is a need to build more just, equitable and democratic societies. It is based on a variety of philosophical traditions all of which have been concerned with the role of mainstream education in maintaining social inequalities and the oppression of powerless groups. A key aim of critical pedagogy from its origins has been to create a ‘language of possibility’ (Giroux, 2001). The term captures the significance of language and its role in the process of enabling poor and oppressed groups to challenge the hegemonic ideas and definitions of the world through a more critical approach to teaching and learning. However, as Seehwa Cho (2013) points out, these possibilities have not generally been articulated as clearly as they might be. Cho believes that terms such as democracy, justice and equality are often presented in ways that are too broad and abstract. In the following chapters, it is hoped that such possibilities will be more clearly identified and the ways in which critical insights and consciousness, developed through a critical education, can help to inform political, social and economic action, in order to bring about real change in all aspects of human life. It should be pointed out then that the discussions and analyses in the present and following chapters will be informed by and replete with ideas and concepts as well as theories associated with critical theory and critical pedagogy.

The need to prioritise the weak, the poor and the vulnerable

The consequences of existing policies and political structures are becoming increasingly clear in the growing body of evidence on the effects of poverty on children (RCPCH, 2017), the growing crisis in social care (Stewart and Walker, 2017) and the shortage of affordable housing (Madden, 2016). Despite these and other issues, all of which are linked, governments in neoliberal countries such as England continue to deny any responsibility resorting instead to blaming the poor for their ‘lifestyle choices’ (Jones, 2011; Smyth and Wrigley, 2013), the inefficient use of resources in the public sector and, more recently, the ‘foreign threat’. Despite evidence to the contrary (Dustmann and Frattini, 2014; Asthana, 2016), the government has been devoting much of its energy and scarce resources to promoting the idea that many of these problems lie in our relationship with Europe. The public has been led to believe that the shortage of housing, the growing pressures on education and the health service as well as poor wages lie not with the government’s long-term neglect of the welfare of its people and the low wages paid by employers, but with the erosion of British sovereignty caused by membership of the European Union (EU) and the negative effects of the free movement of labour.

A key feature of this nationalism is an ‘imagined’ concept of community (Anderson, 2006) in which all British citizens in England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland are seen as equal and have a common cause against a threat that comes from outside such as the EU. The defeat of this threat is seen as imperative in order to banish our problems and to make the nation ‘great’ again. It is this imagined unity of one nation with a common set of values and identity as well as the belief in magical solutions that enables political leaders to convince their citizens to ‘fight’ for their nation rather than against the inequalities and injustices they may be experiencing. However, rather than unite the nation it has instead begun to lay bare even more starkly than ever the fault lines within the so-called United Kingdom, not just between England and the other nations of the union, but also within England. This was demonstrated clearly in the campaign for devolution in Scotland and outcome of the British referendum on continued membership of the EU in 2016, in which the Scots voted with a large majority to remain (Jackson-Preece, 2016). The rhetoric of British national identity and sovereignty serves ultimately as a distraction from the real problems that lie instead within our borders and have been caused by the political and economic leaders who claim to care for their citizens whilst in reality showing little evidence of doing so in terms of ensuring access to decent pay and affordable housing, children’s right to a happy childhood and education, the right to a well-funded and functioning health service free at the point of use, the right to a comfortable old age free from the worries of loneliness and neglect, the right of people with impairments to live lives as rewarding and fulfilling as any other citizen, the right to affordable childcare and properly funded parental leave for mothers and fathers, the right of minority ethnic groups to feel secure and safe in a country to which they contribute their labour and taxes (Dustmann and Frattini, 2014). These are not the unreasonable expectations of radicals and revolutionaries or indeed the politics of envy (Johnson, 2013). They could be seen as the expectations of anyone who wants to live in a humane and caring society where not just the fit and strong prosper, but so also do the weak and vulnerable. It is suggested that there is an urgent need for the humanisation (Freire, 1996) of the nation as well as for a reform to the political system that will guarantee protection for all members of society regardless of economic conditions or the political party in power.

Victims of a so-called free society

The voiceless and powerless are in effect victims of a so-called free society, in a ‘nation’ where freedom of speech and of the press is considered sufficient guarantee to a fair hearing. Those who benefit from this situation are able not only to employ a range of political, economic, philosophical and ‘common sense’ arguments to justify their privilege and power (see Johnson, 2013), they also either own or have access to the most influential media outlets and information systems and, if they choose, are able to control or suppress the flow of information (Dutta, 2013). This is why it is suggested that we need critical theory such as critical pedagogy and critical literacy in order to give voice to the powerless and to enable them to rename a world which has already been predefined for them by those with an interest in keeping things as they are. In addition, new ways of thinking are required to challenge apparently common-sense assumptions.

Perverse logics

In this book the notion of perverse logics is employed to highlight the consequences of applying apparently self-evident and generally accepted beliefs in ways which may result in widespread injustices or harm. These can be seen in slogans and neologisms to which it is assumed there is no riposte, such as: ‘There is no alternative’ (TINA) to fiscal consolidation, i.e. government cuts to services which affect the most vulnerable and the increasing privatisation of public services, despite there being many possible options to austerity; that although we are all supposed to be ‘in this together’, the rich and already highly paid need to be incentivised to be more productive through lower taxes and ever higher pay, whilst those on low incomes, the poor and those with disabilities, who are accused of having become too dependent on the state, should be penalised by cuts to their benefits and welfare services. So, rather than pathologise the rich for their obsession with excessive wealth, we demonise the poor and weak for being dependent on welfare or for simply ‘being poor’. Such assumptions are usually linked to certain rights and obligations that are considered so inalienable that few, other than those branded as ‘radical subversives’, are prepared to challenge them, thus shutting down the opportunity for legitimate debate. Instead of witnessing a sense of concern or moral outrage, for example, at the huge pay differentials between Britain’s corporate bosses and ordinary workers (Wyporska, 2017), and the levels of poverty in Britain, there is a tendency to view the rich and high earners as virtuous, productive and deserving, and the poor and low paid as lazy, unproductive and reliant on benefits (Bamfield and Horton, 2009; Harrington, 2018). Indeed, there seems to be no real appetite to cap the incomes or raise taxes of high earners, even within the Labour Party (Mason, 2017) which purports to represent the poor. What appears even more problematic than the growing gap between the rich and the poor in Britain is that there appears to be little in the way of any debate about what seems to be a tacit acceptance of the right of individuals to infinite wealth. This raises some important ethical and moral questions relating to the rights of individuals in a society where there is poverty and a lack of basic services for ordinary citizens.

In essence, perverse logics are the building blocks of ideologies that together provide the supporting values, common sense assumptions and myths which result in unjust relations. They are most effective when combined with stories of ancient institutions such as the monarchy or ideas of national identity and sacred legends of origin and destiny. In elevating the nation to something sacred (Durkheim, 1912) there is an expectation of unquestioning loyalty from the citizens/subjects to policies and decisions that are alleged to be in the ‘national interest’ but which tend to actually benefit a minority of the wealthy and privileged. However, any attempt to question such decisions is usually met with accusations of a lack of patriotism and loyalty to the nation. In such situations the weaker and relatively powerless members of society ultimately collude in their own oppression.

A pedagogy for change

The chapter will set the scene for this book in terms of its approach to issues of education: what it is for, what it could be and how this transformation can be achieved. In particular, it examines the role of education and schooling in a global context and the current climate of growing neoliberalism and the ‘economism’ upon which it is based, as well as the ideological role it plays in the reproduction and perpetuation of injustice such as the growing inequality between the rich and poor within...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• 1 Introduction: A pedagogy for change
• 2 Imagining an alternative world
• 3 Alternative ways of being and educating
• 4 Austerity in a time of spectacular wealth
• 5 Decolonising the curriculum and society
• 6 Higher education as a site of liberatory practice
• 7 Schools and the pursuit of social justice
• 8 Critical pedagogy and promoting social justice
• Index